If my father, Joe Miksak, was alive today, he'd be 94. I saw him in my dreams this afternoon, blond and blue-eyed, a handsome 28 year-old in Army khakis, jacket held by a cocky thumb over his left shoulder, a First Lieutenant "in charge of wash cloths" as he used to say when my brother and I asked, "What did you do in the war, daddy?"

The war was World War II. This comes to mind as I've been reading Jeff Shaara's new novel The Rising Tide. It's set in exactly the time and places my father served. Check that. Handed out wash cloths.

The last couple of weeks I've been flat on my back or limping around the house with a completely rebuilt left hip, enjoying the attention of nurses and doctors and physical therapists, a long-suffering and highly supportive wife, and two cats.

It's amazing what pain killers will do for one's dreams. Days before I conjured my father, I had awoken suddenly, sweatily swatting at multi-legged spiders that disappeared when I blinked my eyes.

When I picked up Shaara's The Rising Tide I knew I'd be in for some resonant memories. He covers the war in North Africa from spring 1942 to its conclusion in 1943, then the Allied invasion of Sicily and Italy. When Shaara's planned trilogy concludes, Americans and Russians will be shaking hands in Berlin.

Dad returned home safely in 1944 in order to be my father, which I've always greatly appreciated. He came back with a wooden box of books and clothing, some Moroccan tiles, and memories of firefights that lit up the sky like ten 4ths of July.

Dad wasn't a hero, he was at pains to explain to my brother and me. Like most vets of his era, he didn't want to talk much about the war.

I think partly as a result, I've always been fascinated by history, and historical fiction, especially if it involves sails and cannon and amputations.

I joked with the anaesthesiologist that anything he used on me was going to be better than clamping down on a piece of wood. He agreed, I think, just as I went under.

Shaara's research weighs down his story. It's a bit like the experience of reading James Michener. If you approach the book as illustrated history that also features occasional moments of suspense, you may be satisfied. Those seeking the literature of nuance, look elsewhere.

The Rising Tide is an extraordinarily long book, reaching more than 500 pages if you count the Afterword. It's going to be a brick and half when it arrives in paperback next year.

Eventually the slow forward progress hooked me. As the lead characters went through their pre-ordained motions I got pulled into the story.

German and Italian enemy commanders are painted broadly, but accurately, and Shaara allows the reader to see them in the context of their time. How could Rommel fight so hard for such a despicable cause? Where did the French find their loyalties, and why? Why did the Italians awaken from their hopeless dreams?

Shaara risks losing his audience in a whirlwind of detail. If you stick with the book, however, you will emerge with a vivid memory of that place and time, and the appetite, perhaps, for more.

Aired Sunday October 29, 2006 at 10:55 am and Wednesday November 1, 2006 at 1:00 pm

Orders/Information:

The Rising Tide, A Novel of World War II by Jeff Shaara. Ballantine Books hardcover $27.95. ISBN 034546141X.

Jeff Shaara has written about the Civil War and the American Revolution and other wars. He is the son of writer Michael Shaara, whose most famous book was The Killer Angels set in Gettysburg during the Civil War. Perhaps one reason for his exhaustive research is the legion of amateur historian fact checkers that pick apart each of his books. You can tell from his To the Reader note that he is a bit sensitive about this.

An excellent timeline for World War II: http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/ww2time.htm